Welcome to the website of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Houston.

Chinese Consulate General in Houston covers a consular jurisdiction of eight American Southern states and a self-governing commonwealth: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Puerto Rico. The consulate is committed to the exchanges and cooperation between China and the above-listed states in the areas of economy and trade, science and technology as well as culture etc., protecting the rights and interests of the Chinese citizens in its consular areas according to law and offering the services like approving and issuing visa and appropriate papers.

It is my sincere hope that the website would be able to provide you with accurate information about China and convenience for you learning China.

On February 4, 1975, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit Haicheng, a town with about 100,000 inhabitants, in LiaoningProvince, northeast China.

Based on studies of such precursor events and on observing animals' abnormal behaviors, the local authorities issued an earthquake warning on February 3. Early in the morning of February 4, most inhabitants were evacuated to comparatively safer places. And 1,328 people lost their lives when the earthquake hit the town at 7:36 in the evening. Thanks to the quake warning, the death toll was relatively smaller than what could have been without.

4.Longling Earthquake in YunnanProvince, 1976.

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake and a 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurred in LonglingCounty, western YunnanProvince on May 29, 1976.

The two great earthquakes brought disasters to 16 districts and townships. The most devastated area reached about 1,883 square kilometers. The catastrophe killed 98 people, with 451 people severely injured, and more than 420,000 houses collapsed.

5.Tangshan Earthquake in HebeiProvince, 1976

At 3:42 a.m. on July 28, 1976, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the sleeping city of Tangshan, in north China's HebeiProvince, about 95 miles east and slightly south of the national capital Beijing.

The great earthquake obliterated Tangshan and killed some 242,000 people, making it the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century, and caused 5.4 billion yuan (770 milllion U.S. dollars) of losses.

The ground shook for about 90 seconds, during which about 90 percent of the houses and buildings in Tangshan collapsed.

6.Songpan Earthquake in SichuanProvince, 1976

On August 16, 1976, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake occurred between SongpanCounty and PingwuCounty in Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province.

Two major aftershocks of magnitude 6.7 and 7.2 occurred successively on August 22 and August 23. A total of 38 people lost their lives during the three earthquakes striking four counties ? Songpan, Pingwu, Maowen and Nanping. And there were 2,800 heads of livestock lost, while more than 5,000 houses collapsed. Thirty bridges and several small hydropower stations were destroyed.

7.Xinjiang Earthquake, 1985

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurred in a mountain at the border of Wuqia and Shufu counties in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Aug.23, 1985.

8.Yunnan Earthquake, 1988

Two tremors measuring 7.6 and 7.2 on the Richter scale occurred respectively in Lancang and at the border area of Gengma and Cangyuan counties, in the southwestern YunnanProvince on Nov. 6, 1988.

9.Yunnan Earthquake, 1995

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit the Sino-Myanmese border area in MenglianCounty, in southwestern China on July 12, 1995.

Thanks to the quake warning, the town with a population of 600,000 only lost 11 people to the calamity.

10.Yunnan Earthquake, 1996

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the Lijiang area in YunnanProvince on Feb. 3, 1996.